A CARLISLE man has been jailed for a drunken one-punch night club attack which resulted in the victim suffering a fractured skull and losing his sense of smell.
Staff in the city’s Walkabout bar were alerted at around 10-30pm on December 10 last year amid concerns that Matthew Sanderson was staring without reason at stranger Harry Slater, who was on the dance floor and enjoying a night out.
Mr Slater recalled nothing of the attack which followed. CCTV showed 31-year-old Sanderson delivering a single punch which floored Mr Slater and rendered him unconscious.
He suffered a fracture to the base of his skull, spent four days in hospital and had since spoken about the profound effect of Sanderson’s violence. His family Christmas was ruined, Carlisle Crown Court heard today (FRI), and he missed his son’s birthday party. “The incident has affected his quality of life,” said prosecutor Gerard Rogerson. “He has lost his sense of smell completely.”
Sanderson, a father-to-be, of Speckled Wood Drive, Carlisle, admitted causing Mr Slater grievous bodily harm and was said to be “very sorry” for an offence committed while he was “heavily intoxicated”.
But Judge James Adkin, who heard Sanderson was sentenced in 2013 for a previous drunken Walkabout dance floor attack which left another victim with a broken jaw, jailed him for 20 months. “It is yet another example of drunken thuggery with serious consequences,” stated Judge Adkin.
